Summary Chart Issued on Ad Agencies
The Commission issued its first summary chart in April 2008 on whether 16 of the City’s largest advertising agencies had met their 2007 hiring goals. The numbers revealed that most of the agencies that signed the groundbreaking agreements negotiated in September 2006, either met or exceeded their own goals. The historic agreements called for establishing minority recruitment goals for 3 years in the creative and managerial positions and reporting the results annually to the Commission. Under the terms of the agreements, the agencies that did not meet their diversity hiring goals employed outside assistance to help them achieve their mark. The Commission will continue to monitor the agencies’ progress through 2009 as part of the 3-year agreements the Commission negotiated. The agencies are: Arnold Worldwide; Avrett, Free & Ginsberg; BBDO; DDB; Draft New York; Euro RSCG Worldwide; FCB New York; Gotham, Inc.; Grey Direct; Grey Interactive; Kaplan Thaler Group, LTD.; Merkley + Partners; Ogilvy & Mather; PHD USA; Saatchi & Saatchi; and Young & Rubicam. Draft Inc. and FCB Worldwide have merged into one agency, Draft FCB.

Mortgage Counseling
As the only City agency to be a HUD-certified housing counseling agency, the Commission’s 5 counselors provided direct mortgage counseling to over 300 clients. Counselors are available in each of the Commission’s five borough offices, and it has been providing these services for over 20 years due to the fair housing, predatory lending and neighborhood stabilization issues that arise when homes are lost through foreclosure. The recent sub prime and related mortgage financing collapse has resulted in a substantial increase in requests for counseling services.

Employment Discrimination Testing
Under the Commission’s testing program in employment for race and gender discrimination, matched groups of testers (Whites, African-Americans, and Latinos), who apply for the same jobs with similar résumés, conducted over 200 tests during 2008. Approximately 10% of those tests were referred to the Commission’s Law Enforcement Bureau for investigation into possible discriminatory hiring practices by employers.

The program is based upon a recent study conducted by Princeton University in conjunction with the Commission, which measured the role that race plays in obtaining entry-level employment in the city. The study revealed that a Caucasian high school graduate was twice as likely to obtain a position as a similarly situated African-American applicant. Unlike the study, where no formal complaints were filed, the Commission will file charges against any employer found to be discriminating.

Immigration-Related Employment Discrimination
The Commission developed a two-part adult legal literacy curriculum for ESOL classes (English for Speakers of Other Languages) entitled The Right To Work: Understanding Immigrant Employment Rights. The two 3-hour lessons are being delivered in ESOL classes at public libraries, community colleges, and workforce development agencies reaching individuals likely to experience employment discrimination due to their national origin or citizenship status, while advancing their language proficiency essential for job acquisition, retention and advancement.

Civil Rights Public Lecture Series
In April 2008, the Commission led a discussion at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem on the ways in which ethnic diversity affects our communities. The event - entitled “E Pluribus Unum: Reconciling Diversity and Community in the 21st Century” - was the Commission’s third in a series of Civil Rights Public Lectures, which featured Dr. Robert D. Putnam, best-selling author of Bowling Alone. Dr. Putnam’s remarks focused on social capital and how changing populations and ethnic diversity continually shape and reshape trust, identities, social ties and civic engagement.

Bilingual Agency Brochures, Newsletters, and Postcards Produced and Distributed
As part of its aggressive educational efforts, the Commission produced two new bilingual info cards in several languages: Employment Discrimination, and Housing Discrimination, publicizing the new amendment to the Human Rights Law that adds “any lawful source of income” in housing as a protected class. The Commission also produced: The Right to Work: Understanding Immigrant Employment Rights -- a workbook for ESOL classes; Sexual Harassment in the Workplace -- brochures in English and Spanish; and a newsletter specifically geared for immigrants and distributed at swearing-in ceremonies of new citizens. These and tens of thousands of the Commission’s various multi-lingual publications have been widely distributed at meetings, fairs, events, schools, government offices, and businesses.